Just the other day, I discovered a partially finished bottle of an energy drink left behind in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. A visiting architect joked, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” giving me a new perspective.
All this is to say, the garden is in disarray. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; after returning from holiday, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
This week, though, some necessary firefighting is underway. As I’m expecting a baby, I’ve enlisted a professional gardener to remove invasive plants like a prickly weed and young tree shoots from the neighbour’s tree, but keeping desirable plants. Next, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
A fellow garden writer has written about cover crops, as they play a key role in crop rotation for edible gardens. But, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some woody herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are simple and steady – and improving the soil is my main priority. To update concerned readers, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with replacing them.
Green manure work wonders for your garden’s foundation. Soil likes to be covered, which is why unwanted plants pop up. But by sowing fast-growing plants, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, host pest-eating creatures, and fix nitrogen.
Green manure plants aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and a flowering legume, have lovely blooms – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than look decorative. Once established, you can turn them under, cut them for compost, or leave them on the surface for earthworms to pull down. Their work happens underground.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these overwintering crops. My selection includes rye grass, which breaks up heavy earth, Italian ryegrass, vetch, and beans that aerate soil.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – on the surface, anyway.
